In a recent report ranking the top 15 ports in the U.S. and Canada, Virginia moved up four places – rising more than any other port – from No. 9 to No. 5.

It’s the third year in a row that the report, by Los Angeles-based CBRE, the world’s largest commercial real-estate firm, has been released.

The ports ranked ahead of Virginia, in order: Los Angeles, Long Beach, New York/New Jersey and Seattle/Tacoma.

“We’re getting into some good company here,” John Reinhart, executive director and CEO of the Virginia Port Authority, told members of the port board at a meeting last week.

Not simply a look back, CBRE’s overall seaports and logistics rankings incorporate projections for the future, too, based on a proprietary model, said David Egan, the firm’s global head of industrial and logistics research, who crunches the numbers.

“One thing that really matters a lot is growth,” Egan said. “We view growth as being not only a good thing in and of itself, but as an indicator of a lot of other factors. Shippers and supply-chain users are choosing to use one port over another, therefore driving growth. That implies a lot of other things about the port.”

Egan emphasized the forward-looking nature of the rankings, that they’re not simply a reflection of past results.

“This isn’t just a blip,” he said of Virginia’s growth. “This is sustainable, we think.”